China Telecom studying Mexico investment - spokesman

MEXICO CITY Jan 17 (Reuters) - China's third-largest
carrier China Telecom is studying a possible investment in
Mexico, a company spokesman said on Saturday, a day after
Reuters reported that it is preparing a possible bid for
Mexico's new $10 billion mobile broadband network.

The spokesman for subsidiary China Telecom Corporation Ltd.
did not comment directly on the Reuters story but said
in an emailed statement that China Telecom was doing a
preliminary study on an investment opportunity in Mexico.

Reuters, citing sources, reported on Friday that China
Telecom is looking for Mexican partners to join it in a
consortium for the mobile broadband project, with up to several
billion dollars of financing already secured from Chinese
state-controlled banks.

The proposed network is part of a wider reform designed to
break billionaire Carlos Slim's hold on the Mexican telecoms
business and to improve poor broadband penetration levels.
(Reporting by Christine Murray in Mexico City and Gerry Shih in
Beijing; Editing by Frances Kerry)